New Horizons for Learning: Teaching and Learning Strategies

POLICY ISSUES:

CLASS SIZE
DESCRIPTION OF ISSUE:
Class size is defined as the number of students assigned to each classroom for an instructional period on the student schedule used for FTE purposes. Changes to the square foot per student (within the allowable FDOE range: K-3 = 36 to 40 sf., 4-6 = 30 to 34 sf., middle school = 28 to 32 sf. and high school = 25 to 29 SF) requirement can increase classroom utilization.

PRESENT SITUATION in Leon County

Class sizes range in the core academic areas from 21.23 in Chapter I elementary schools, 26.87 in other elementary schools, 27.42 in middle schools and 27.46 in High schools. There is much variation among schools and programs.

INTENDED OUTCOME - Affect on District Capacity Needs

Increasing class size by 10 percent can increase capacity by that amount. Additional instructional assistance through team teaching, aides or paraprofessionals or parent volunteer can help with increased work load.

CHARTER/CONTRACT SCHOOLS
DESCRIPTION OF ISSUE:
Charter schools operate under a special agreement with the state independent from a local school board, while receiving the same resources as a regular school would receive. To be approved for charter, generally individuals (often teachers) apply to states and agree to some outcome guidelines, but they do not have to comply with most public school regulations beyond civil rights, open admissions, health, and safety laws. While charter schools may have academic admission standards which fit their chartered goals, they generally cannot select further on academic ability. They are not especially limited to general academics, in fact some are chartered for special programs including dropout prevention and disadvantaged students. Contract schools involve the private management of an individual school or a whole school district's operations.

PRESENT SITUATION in Leon County

There are no contract or charter schools, per se, but FSU and FAMU developmental research schools operate much the same as a charter school would.

INTENDED OUTCOME - Affect on District Capacity Needs

Charter/contract schools can reduce construction needs only if classes are held in buildings not currently owned by the district. Charters work best in areas of declining enrollment of population shifts where excess school facilities are available or suitable retail or office space is available at reasonable lease rates.

PRIVATE SCHOOL VOUCHERS
DESCRIPTION OF ISSUE:
Vouchers permit a student to choose any approved nonpublic school and have a specified amount of funds follow the student to the school. Florida law does not currently allow private school vouchers.

PRESENT SITUATION in Leon County

There are 36 nonpublic schools listed in the current educational directory for Leon County with grades K or higher representing approximately 10% of the school age population..

INTENDED OUTCOME - Affect on District Capacity Needs

If all students in grades K-12 who attend nonpublic schools in the district attended, there would be as significant impact on school capacity, especially at the primary level.
There are very limited spaces available at most nonpublic schools in the district, especially at grades 3-12. Resources for capital expansion at those schools are limited.

DISTANCE EDUCATION
DESCRIPTION OF ISSUE:
Distance education provides noncontiguous communication between students and a teacher related to significant learning opportunities as alternatives to regular class meetings. Formats for distance learning include print/correspondence study, programmed/modular instruction, newspapers, audio media, telephone, audiographics, radio, broadcast or cable television, low frequency instructional TV, satellite TV, video cassette and videodiscs, and computers.

PRESENT SITUATION in Leon County

ITV GED, inservice education and community college classes have been tried in the past in the district. Satellite down links for inservice and classroom instruction has been used as well. Most recently computer connections between schools and Internet are becoming available in some schools.

INTENDED OUTCOME - Affect on District Capacity Needs

Distance education has traditionally been used to offer otherwise unavailable courses to schools with limited staff or resources of small size or geographic isolation. It has not been used in the public schools to reduce overcrowding.
Students who could access high school or college courses outside of the regular school day might take fewer courses on campus or accelerate graduation freeing up additional space. Students could also use televised or other vehicles to take classes in nontraditional locations or at home. Greater access to quality instructional; resources might increase the number of students participating in home schooling.

HOME SCHOOLING
DESCRIPTION OF ISSUE:
Home Education is defined in Florida Statutes as "sequentially progressive instruction of a student in his or her home by his or her parent or guardian."

PRESENT SITUATION in Leon County

In 1993-94 there were 322 students registered with the district for home schooling from 234 families.

INTENDED OUTCOME - Affect on District Capacity Needs

An increase in home schooling would primarily affect elementary and somewhat affect middle school capacity. Likewise a return to the school system would affect available space at those two levels.

EXPANDING PREKINDERGARTEN CONTRACTED SERVICES

DESCRIPTION OF ISSUE:
Contracting for PreKindergarten services in community non-district facilities (i.e. private day care and subsidized child care centers).

PRESENT SITUATION in Leon County

Leon County PreK programs are to provide free and appropriate services through grants and FTE for at-risk or developmentally disabled children, ages 0-5 in inclusive settings. Leon County also provides fee-for-services day care (LCDCC) at four sites - Lively, Everhart, Rickards and Lincoln. The centers at Everhart and Rickards are combined with the free PreK programs.

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PROGRAMS:
Community day care based teacher units
Community day care based slots
School based teacher units
School based classrooms
School based LCDCC units
School based LCDCC classrooms
DESCRIPTION OF ISSUE
Leon County Schools serve approximately 1,150 PreK students, plus approximately 50 on-campus day care slots.
There are approximately 75 teachers and 100 instructional assistants working in the program. Leon County also contracts with Elder Care and the Health Department to provide services to 0-5 year old students in school facilities.

INTENDED OUTCOME - Affect on District Capacity Needs

Contracting with private providers for preK slots in non-district facilities (schools) may increase workstations available for K-5 students.

SERVICES IN NON-DISTRICT FACILITIES
DESCRIPTION OF ISSUE:
Services and programs offered in non-district facilities may serve specialized or targeted populations in available facilities not owned by the district. Generally, such facilities are offered free of charge to the district as a part of a cooperative or interagency agreement. In some cases, portables owned by the district may be located free of charge on property not owned by the district in order to provide a program to a targeted population at a non-school site. The district may lease property to provide educational programs to the general population.

PRESENT SITUATION in Leon County

The district currently operates programs on a full or part-time basis in a number of facilities not owned by the district or in district owned portables located on property not owned by the district. The types of programs operated through interagency agreements or contracts in non-district facilities include the Apalachee Elementary School satellite located at the Kirkman Building, juvenile justice programs, pre-kindergarten programs and adult and post-secondary vocational programs. Several juvenile justice and pre-kindergarten programs are operated in district owned portables located on property not owned by the district. A complete listing of locations is available from the district.

INTENDED OUTCOME-Affect on District Capacity Needs

To the extent that non-district facilities are used to provide educational programs, the capacity to house the students in district owned facilities is not needed. Where portables owned by the district are located on property not owned by the district, the capacity assigned to the portables is assigned to the district, but the purchase of property is not a cost to the district. Certain students must be served in secure facilities, such as detention centers, but where classroom space is not available, the district may provide a portable classroom.

EFFICIENCIES
DESCRIPTION OF ISSUE:
Efficiencies in operations can have an impact on capital facility needs. The following represent selected operating issues that can increase utilization of existing capacity:

Grade Level Retention
Grade level retention is defined as "the practice of requiring a student to repeat an entire grade in school" (DOE, no year). The National Association of School Psychologists offers this position on retention: "The retention of students, while widely practiced, is in large measure not substantiated by sound research. The cumulative evidence indicates that retention decision cannot be validated using any standardized or competency-based tests and that retention can negatively affect achievement and social-emotional adjustment" (National Association of School Psychologists, 1988, n.p.).

Accelerated Promotion
Accelerated Promotion is usually defined as grade skipping or any other method allowing academically talented students to progress more rapidly from grade to grade and finish K-12 schooling in a shorter length of time.

Contracting School Services
Services such as transportation, maintenance, food, etc. might be more cost effective both in terms of capital outlay and operating dollars if performed by private enterprise under contract to the school district.

No Funding for Interscholastic Activities
As a cost saving measure, students/parents who participate in interscholastic activities could be asked to fund them.

PRESENT SITUATION in Leon County

Most arguments for retention seem based on common sense and not research evidence. In the early grades, retention is viewed as a way to give children additional time for personal adjustment, maturation and skill development. The extra year is thought to prevent future failure before it occurs. At the high school level, retention is seen as a strategy to prevent schools from graduating students who lack the basic skills necessary to be productive members of society (Martinez & Vandgraft, 1991).
Leon County offers Advanced level courses such as Advanced Placement and Honors classes, in addition to the Academic Resource Center Program. Additionally, student may be concurrently enrolled in the adult education program.
Leon County has contract services for some academic programs (such as PreK). In addition, food service offers Pizza Hut and Subway food at several middle and high schools, but not on a contractual basis per se.
A list which describes Leon County's Interscholastic programs/participation is available.

INTENDED OUTCOMES:

By not retaining students and by encouraging accelerated promotion, some additional capacity could be gained. By contracting services and no longer funding interscholastic activities, some additional dollars might be saved.

Draft: May 23, 1995
Go Back to: Restructuring Educational Facilities Article

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CLASS SIZE

CHARTER/CONTRACT SCHOOLS

PRIVATE SCHOOL VOUCHERS

DISTANCE EDUCATION

HOME SCHOOLING

EXPANDING PREKINDERGARTEN CONTRACTED SERVICES

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SERVICES IN NON-DISTRICT FACILITIES

EFFICIENCIES

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LCDCC